


Detroit: Beyond Human

by McDonald195 (orphan_account)



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Conflicted Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Depressed Hank Anderson, Deviant Hunter Kara, Minor Markus/Simon (Detroit: Become Human), Multi, On-The-Run Deviant Markus, Pacifist Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Revolution Leader Connor, Role Swap AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-06-25 20:20:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15648228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/McDonald195
Summary: What if Kara was the infamous Deviant Hunter, charged with hunting deviants and caring for a recently orphaned child while putting up with her hateful partner?What if Connor was the carer for a depressed ex-cop, a position which eventually leads him to near death and to a campaign for Android freedom?What if Markus, along with his fellow abused Android, Simon, escape from their abuser and attempt to travel to Canada along with others they pick up along the way?A Detroit: Become Human Role Swap AU.





	1. The Hostage & The Hunter

Kara I

 

The coin rolled from finger to finger, before Kara flicked it from one hand to the other, the coin passing from one to the other without even falling slightly. As the elevator made the usual ding it did to announce the passenger's arrival, she stowed the coin in her pocket, straightening her tie.

Stepping out of the elevator, Kara scanned the hallway, noticing only a fish which had somehow fallen out of the tank during the commotion, and a picture of the family, from which she gleaned the victim’s names. From what she’d understood of the report she’d received on her way, the parents had been gunned down, and it was the daughter being held, hostage. She sighed, turning back to the fish and crouching beside it to scan it. She picked up the fish, dropping it back in the tank before carrying on; unaware of what drove her to do so. Continuing through the apartment, she glanced over at the bodies in the living room, before moving on to the bedroom, where Captain Allen was stationed.

“Hello, my name is Kara. I’m the Android sent by Cyberlife.”

Captain Allen turned his head, glancing in her direction before turning back to his colleague. “Bastard shot both of her parents and he's got the kid right on the edge of the roof, and they send another Android to deal with it.” He shook his head, “These Deviant cases are getting worse and worse.”

Kara noticed a spike in his stress levels at her presence, but she assumed that this was due to the situation at hand. “Do you know the Deviant’s name?”

"I haven’t got a clue, what does that matter?” Another spike, the Captain was clearly annoyed that she was there.

“The more information I have before confronting the Deviant, the better a chance I’ll have to resolve the conflict peacefully.”

Allen turned to face her, his face a mask of annoyance. “Listen, we already lost the two parents and now that girl has a gun to her head. Either you deal with that Deviant, or we will.” With that said he pushed past her and out to the rest of his officers. Kara was a little off put by the emotional outburst; she hoped it wouldn’t impact his judgement or get in her way, that could create more problems than she already had to deal with. She turned, her eyes falling on the open gun case on the floor. An MS853 Black Hawk, presumably the father’s weapon. The gun held 17 rounds, and from the empty box on the floor, Kara could tell the weapon was fully loaded, but that he likely only had enough for that one magazine. Unfortunately, she didn’t know how many bullets the gun had already fired, though presumably if the police hadn’t ventured any further out, this meant he still had bullets.

Next, she investigated the girl’s bedroom, finding a tablet on the desk, already loaded with a video. Pressing the button to begin, she watched as the young girl, the hostage, smiled and hugged the Deviant, calling him her best friend. This didn’t make an awful lot of sense to Kara, Androids were intelligent machines with a singular purpose in the eyes of humans, so why this child would insist on anthropomorphizing it seemed contradictory to what she already knew. At least now she knew the Deviant’s name, which might help her gain its trust. Crouching down, she managed to work out that the child likely didn’t hear the initial gunshots, and perhaps given her good relationship with the Deviant, perhaps she went with him willingly.

Making her way to the living room, passing several officers setting up around the apartment, she came across the bodies. One of them, the woman’s was slumped against the remains of the coffee table, several wounds across her stomach and chest. The other, the father was simply face down, a bullet hole through his head. From her reconstruction, the Deviant had come from behind, shooting the father in the back of the head, then shooting with less precision at the mother as she got up and faced the Deviant. This suggested to Kara that this wasn’t a premeditated attack, something the parents did had triggered him to react in this way. She looked around for a cause, and sure enough, she found a tablet lying under a dresser, which loaded up to the Cyberlife website. Apparently, the family had just ordered an MA500 model, perhaps something about this had triggered the Deviant, it might have felt replaced, Kara thought. She moved on, examining the downed police officer, who had presumably been the first responder to the incident. From her reconstruction, it seemed that Officer Deckart had wounded the Deviant, which might make it more unstable, and thus more of an issue for her to deal with. She looked under the table, where the officer had dropped his gun. Kara wasn’t issued with a gun, and her superiors might be displeased at her having one, but if possession of the weapon helped to ensure her success, she would take it.

She had enough to go on, and a solid theory for the cause of the Deviant’s assault. Moving through the sliding doors, she was greeted with a bullet to the shoulder, thirium spattering against the window. She shrugged it off; she didn’t feel pain and the wound wouldn’t cause her any issues in the long term. Turning back, she assessed the current situation, trying to estimate her current chances of successfully defusing the situation. With the information she had gathered, she was feeling confident, but with someone as unstable as this, that could quickly change.

 “Hi Andy, my name is Kara.”

 The Deviant kept the gun trained on her, the girl crying in his arms. “How… How do you know my name?”

 “I know a lot about you, Andy, I’m just here to talk to you.” She made sure her tone was reassuring, both to placate the Deviant and to keep the child calm, the last thing she needed was the girl making things more difficult. A helicopter flew overhead, scattering the furniture on the roof and threatening to destabilize the Deviant.

 “I know you’re angry Andy,” She shouted to him, slowly approaching. “I need you to trust me, I can help you.”

 "No you can’t!” His voice sounded strained, like a human’s when undergoing deep emotional trauma. “Nobody can help me.”

Kara looked down a wounded officer below her. She should continue her approach, her primary objective was ensuring the safety of the child, but if the officer wasn’t tended to very soon, he had little chance of surviving. She crouched down and was immediately rewarded by a bullet slamming into the floor beside her.

 “Leave him alone!” Andy called out, the gun trained on her.

Kara scowled, she should leave him, but it wouldn’t do to let the officer die while there was a chance that her actions could help him. “I’m going to apply a tourniquet, stop the bleeding, that’s all. He’ll die otherwise.”

“What’s to stop me shooting you if you do it?”

“You already shot me, Andy, I’m still standing,” Kara replied, pulling off her tie and wrapping it tightly around the wound. It wasn’t perfect, but it should give him enough time until the paramedics could give him the proper care. She stood, turning back to Andy. “I understand you’re upset, Andy. They were going to replace you and you got angry.”

Andy’s brow furrowed, in anger or sadness, Kara couldn’t quite tell. “They weren’t going to replace me; they were going to replace Mary!”

Kara paused; she hadn’t encountered any evidence of a second Android. Had there been something she missed? “Who is Mary?” She asked.

“She was… She took care of her,” He shouted, nodding to the girl with the gun to her head. “We were in love! But then… then there was an accident one day… she was injured and she…” He trailed off, the memories seemingly too painful for him to vocalize. Kara was beginning to understand, though the idea of one Android loving another seemed somewhat alien to her.

“So, you got angry when you realised that they were going to replace her?” Kara asked.

Andy nodded, the gun shaking in his hand. “I thought they cared about her like I did… But she was just an object they could replace. They didn’t love her!”

“Andy, I’m going to need you to let the girl go,” Kara told him, becoming increasingly aware of how close he was to the edge of the building. “Once she’s safe we can talk more about your situation.”

“My situation?” He laughed. “The only thing I had left to live for was that family, I thought they cared about us, loved us… But they didn’t.”

“That’s not true, Andy,” Kara told him, trying to get the girl away from the edge. “That girl cared; she called you her best friend. Do you really want your best friend to get hurt? Do you think she’d want to see you hurt yourself?” She asked him, pointing to the child to accentuate her point, trying to appeal to his perceived humanity.

He looked down at the girl, his eyes widening, almost as if he had just realised what he was doing. Very slowly, he put her down, before pushing her back towards Kara.

“Thank you, Andy.” Kara ushered the girl towards her, getting her away from the balcony. “You were cooperative, I can try to—“ She began, but before she could finish Andy took a step back, his lips forming one final goodbye to the Android he claimed to love as he fell to his demise. Kara watched on, her fingers loosening from the handle of the gun she had hidden behind her. She looked down at the girl, scared and clutching at her as she heard the other officers run out from behind her. Not really knowing what else to do, she put a hand on the girl’s back reassuringly.

“It’s alright, Alice. You’ll be taken care of now,” She told the girl as officers came to take the child.


	2. On The Topic Of Androids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Hank discuss Androids, free will and the idea of Deviancy over morning breakfast. But what exactly will Hank's questioning awaken within Connor's mind?

Connor I

 

“Fuck sake, Connor, what took you so long, I’m starving in here.” Connor had quickly come to understand that Hank was not a morning person, usually because he was hungover from trying to drink himself unconscious the night before.

"I’m sorry, Hank,” Connor replied, placing the numerous shopping bags he’d brought with him on the table and petting Sumo who had come to greet him. “The usual deliveries haven’t been running so there was a bit of trouble getting your usual shopping.” Hank shrugged, peering into the bags and attempting to pull out a rather large bottle of whiskey. “Hands off the whiskey, Hank, the doctor told you to cut back on your alcohol intake, and that includes not drinking with your breakfast.” He shook his head. “Which might I add is quite the strange habit if I understand correctly?”

“Lots of people drink with breakfast,” Hank muttered under his breath, letting Connor put the bottle away. “Why’d you care so much anyway, so what if I drink?”

“I’m simply trying to follow the doctor’s orders in regards to your health, Hank,” He told the older man as he began preparing breakfast. “It would go against my purpose if I allowed you to purposefully put your health at risk.”

“Your purpose, huh?” Hank asked, petting Sumo as the large dog wandered over to him. “Does that mean you don’t want to look after me?”

Connor shook his head. “I’m still an Android, Hank. I don’t want anything like humans do. I do however have a vested interest in your personal wellbeing.” He turned around, a scolding look on his face. “This would be made easier if you stopped attempting to drink yourself into a stupor every evening.”

Hank grumbled a little under his breath but quietened down after a few moments. Connor could feel Hank looking over him. “Hey, what happened to your clothes?” Hank asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

Connor sighed; he’d hoped Hank would be too tired to notice the marks on his outfit and the dusty footprints he’d made an effort to get rid of before he got back. “It was nothing, Hank.” 

"Doesn’t look like nothing, looks like someone kicked the shit out of ya.” Hank stood, walking over to Connor and turning him around, examining him. “What happened?”

"Just some demonstrators, thankfully they got me before I got all those bottles.” Connor thought the joke might distract him. It didn’t.

“Those fuckers, I should go bust their asses,” Hank scowled, turning away. “You remember what they look like? I can tell Fowler to keep an eye out for them.”

“That’s alright, Hank, they didn’t cause me any damage,” Connor told him, hoping to avoid giving Hank any unnecessary stress. “Besides, their aggression towards Androids is understandable, if misguided.”

Hank shook his head “Understandable my ass, what’re they thinking is gonna happen, they’re gonna get a job by roughing up an Android passing them on the street? Fuckers,” Hank ranted, the last word coming out as a mumble under his breath.

“It’s really not an issue, Hank. At least I’ve got somewhere to go when the people on the street get violent.”

There was a silence then, Hank sat back down at the table. “Connor, you know I’m not going to be around forever?”

Connor nodded. “I’m well aware, Hank. But I’m planning to keep you around for a few more years.” He noted Hank’s expression, full of sadness and conflicting feelings. He knew about Hank’s suicidal tendencies, the gun he kept in his drawer alongside the picture of Cole, and about the nights he’d found Hank passed out drunk with the gun close by. Nothing serious had happened yet, Hank seemed to know pretty well how to handle his alcohol, but it didn’t stop Connor from being concerned. It didn’t help that Hank’s orders prohibited Connor from bothering him when he was still conscious and drunk, only being allowed to tend to him once he was unconscious. Connor didn’t like it, but his programming demanded that he obey any express orders Hank gave him, even if Connor objected to them.

“So… what’s going on today then?” Hank asked as Connor gave him his breakfast and sat down opposite him, petting Sumo.

“Well, after breakfast we should take Sumo for his morning walk, get you out of the house, then we’ve got some free time before a dinner with Elijah Kamski.”

“Why the fuck are we having dinner with him again? I don’t even know the guy,” Hank complained, although for once Connor mostly agreed with Hank’s complaint.

“Mr. Kamski organized the dinner to check in with how we were getting along, and presumably because he still respects your work dealing with the Red Ice dealers.” Connor knew that this was the reason; Kamski’s assistant had been over the details with him when she’d called to organize the meeting. Connor understood the dinner was mostly for appearances, and for Kamski to check in with his experiment.

“Still seems like bullshit to me,” Hank mumbled through his breakfast. Sumo rested his head on Connor’s lap, he was getting impatient. “So, back to what I was saying before.” He gulped down a big mouthful of water before continuing. “Is there anything you… want to do? Like… not taking care of me specifically.”

“It might surprise you, Hank, but taking care of you is quite the rewarding experience, as far as something can be rewarding for me,” Connor told him, resting his hands on the table. “I find helping you get by and taking care of Sumo to be quite… fulfilling, as you humans might say.”

“Yeah, but that’s because you're programmed to take care of me, of course, you feel fulfilled by doing it,” Hank commented. “Don’t you wanna… try new things, see new places.”

Connor thought about it. He didn’t really spend much time thinking about himself and if he would have any desires beyond his task of caring for Hank. There were times when he would see something on Hank’s computer or the television and would think they might be nice places to visit, but this was usually only an extension of his caring for Hank, as these thoughts would usually revolve around thinking it would be a nice place to go with Hank and Sumo, he’d never considered going there by himself, simply because he might want to.           

“I… I don’t know, Hank. It’s not really something I’m designed to think about. Only Deviants are really capable of desiring outside of their initial purpose.”

“Right…” Hank clearly didn’t understand the idea of Deviancy, but that was as Connor had expected.

He sighed or made the closest equivalent that an Android could make. “Come on, let’s take Sumo out. I’ll explain it properly,” Connor told him, getting up and grabbing Sumo’s lead.

Hank wolfed down the rest of his food, getting up. “Alright fine, let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our first look at Android Messiah Connor! His story is gonna take some fun twists and turns, which I hope everyone will enjoy!
> 
> I'll be posting about new chapters on my Tumblr, so if you're not already following feel free to check it out at https://mcdonald195.tumblr.com


	3. A New Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arriving at his new home, Markus is greeted not only by his drug-addled new owner but also by his partner, Simon. Is Markus a Deviant, and will he be able to orchestrate a plan to free the pair from their servitude?

Markus I

 

The house was huge, far larger than Markus would’ve attributed to somebody like Leo Manfred, but he was here now, and he knew what he was here to do. Leo ushered him in, and Markus noticed something odd about his demeanour, a strange jumpiness that Markus couldn’t quite understand. He walked inside and immediately saw why Leo had gone through with purchasing another Android. The house was clearly undermanaged, dust and dirt marred every surface and there was rubbish all over. Markus understood that Leo already had an Android to tend to his home, but even one Android might have difficulty managing all of this.

Markus followed Leo through to the dining area, where they found another Android working at cleaning the room, though given the state of things it was a hard task. A PL600 model, though it was clear that he had seen better days, the normally neat hair was instead dishevelled and his uniform was slightly torn in places.

"This is Simon; he takes care of the house. You’re gonna help him, seeing as he can’t seem to keep on top of it by himself.” He told Markus as he wandered over to Simon, watching over his handiwork with an overly critical eye. He glanced over at the couch, uncleaned and still sporting some cans and red dust. “You haven’t cleaned the living room yet,” He commented, before pushing Simon to the ground. Simon didn’t get up, simply stayed crumpled on the floor. “I’m going out, gonna meet someone. I want that living room fucking spotless or I’ll kick the crap out of you.” He turned on Markus, his twitching worse than ever. “You tidy up the studio then deal with the kitchen,” He ordered, before leaving, the door slamming behind him.

Markus stood still, his preliminary scans suggested that Leo had recently been using the drug called Red Ice, and quite a lot of it from what he could tell. That was presumably where Leo had gone too, and why he wanted Simon to clean the previous night’s dust off the couch. He saw the open door to the studio and was about to make his way there before glancing over at Simon. He walked away from the studio, over to the downed Android, and knelt down beside him.

“Are you alright?” It wasn’t a question he thought he’d ever need to ask another of his kind, but there he was.

Simon’s eyes were still clenched shut, his hands shaking. “I hate it.” The sentence surprised Markus, Androids weren’t supposed to hate anything, they shouldn’t be capable of hate. “Living with him… It’s a nightmare.” Simon continued, looking up at Markus.

Markus didn’t know what to say. He’d only been here a few minutes, but already his mind was racing, trying to process everything that his Android mind was seemingly trying to feel, even while his whole being was pulling him to follow Leo’s direction to deal with the mess in the studio. Then another idea formed in his mind. He could instead help Simon with his tasks. It might result in Leo taking out his anger on Markus, but at least Simon might be out of the fire, at least for a while. He stood, attempting to walk over to the couch even as his mind tried to pull him further than that to the empty studio. He felt as if there was a wall around the couch and the whole living room other than his designated path. He pushed with all his might, trying to break through. He wanted to help, wanted to try to avoid Simon being abused for no reason. With one final burst of will, he felt the wall break apart; almost falling forward from the strain as his whole world flickered, almost taking on a new light.

He looked down at the mess Leo had made, shaking his head before he started picking up cans couch cushions, moving them out of the way so he could clean up the dust.

“What… What’re you doing?” Simon’s voice quivered as he spoke, standing and looking at Markus with a panicked curiosity.

“If we get this all cleared, maybe Leo will be a bit easier on you tonight.”

“But Leo told you to…”

Markus shook his head. “I’ll worry about Leo later. For now, help me with this,” Markus said, retrieving a hand vacuum and beginning to clean the dust from the sofa. Simon walked over slowly, peering at Markus with concern.

"Are… Are you…” His eyes widened as they looked into Markus’ “You’re a Deviant, aren’t you? You’re like me?”

Markus didn’t know how to answer. He supposed he was a Deviant, seeing as he was doing something which defied his order in an attempt to help Simon. “I just decided to help you; I didn’t want to see him hurting you again.” The pair began working on the living room together, Markus vacuuming the area while Simon, who had retrieved a trash bag from the kitchen, dealing with all the empty cans and other trash around the room.

“Why does he hate you so much?” Markus asked as he turned off the vacuum.

Simon shook his head. “I’m not sure exactly. I worked for his father, Carl before he died. When he did though, Leo inherited everything; the paintings, the house, and me.” There was a pause, Simon seemingly shuddering as he remembered his time since Leo had taken over the household. “He never liked me. Even back when Carl was alive he was awful, always over asking for money. Once Carl passed, and Leo got everything, he started living here, getting high and taking out his anger on me,” Simon told him.

Markus was surprised, not just at how Simon had managed to put up with Leo for so long, but at how angry he felt. He’d never felt anger before, the feeling that what was happening was unjust and that it should stop. That said, he’d never felt anything before. From what he could tell, fear and anger shouldn’t be the first emotions he was feeling, Humans didn’t spend all their time living in fear, why should they?

“If you’re a Deviant, can’t you just leave?”

Simon looked down, his hands balling into fists, not from anger but from fear. “I… I tried to leave once. But Leo came back, he found me trying to leave. I tried to make an excuse but he didn’t care what I was doing. He almost broke me that night, only didn’t because he didn’t want to waste money on having me repaired.”

Markus put a hand on his shoulder, not sure about he could comfort Simon but figuring that this might help a little. “We’ll leave together,” He told Simon, who looked at him hopefully. “Not now, we’ll need to wait for an opening. When he’s gone for a longer period of time or when he’s asleep.” He looked around at the living room. “Go, get started on the dining room. I should make a start on Leo’s vague request for the studio.”

Simon nodded, taking the trash bag out through the kitchen while Marcus entered the studio. It wasn’t as much of a mess as the rest of the house had been, presumably due to a lack of Leo’s presence in there. He looked around at the paintings strewn around and set about rolling them up. He hadn’t had much experience of art, but even he could appreciate the work of the man who painted these, this man, Carl, who Simon had mentioned. The paintings were quite beautiful, and it was simple enough to download information about Carl Manfred. Reading about him and seeing his work before him, he felt it was a shame that Markus hadn’t met him.

The door slid open behind him, Leo wandering in with an aggressive gleam in his eye. “I thought I told you to have this place sorted by the time I got back. I’ve got someone coming over tomorrow to have this shit appraised.”

“Sorry, Leo, I’ll have the paintings ready shortly,” Markus told him, doing his best to appear as the same obedient Android he’d always been.

“Right… Right…” Leo was on Red Ice right now, Markus wasn’t sure how much he’d done but it was clear now that his jittery movements were back in full force. He wasn’t sure about the effects of the drug necessarily, but he hoped at least it would keep him calm and non-violent towards Simon and himself. “Just get back to it, I want this place perfect for tomorrow.” Leo wandered off, his attention span must be lessened by the drug, not that Markus was complaining as he looked back to the studio, continuing his work, and thinking more about when they could leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Markus' story isn't exactly the same as Kara's, as it's less of a parent/child relationship but rather two friends who later run into more. Hope you like the change, let me know what you think! 
> 
> As always, if you wanna chat about Detroit, come and find me on Tumblr at https://mcdonald195.tumblr.com


	4. Partners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After trying and failing to have a meaningful conversation with her new partner, Kara talks with an individual who has a request which will change her existence.

Kara II

 

“You can’t seriously expect me to work with this plastic bitch do you?” Kara found Detective Reed’s hostility towards her to be rather unwarranted, especially since she had only just arrived at the precinct an hour ago, and had quite the track record behind her to prove her worth. It seemed the Detective had some other issue with her. As much as she was trying to focus on the meeting at hand, which wasn’t difficult with how loud Detective Reed and Captain Fowler were talking, she couldn’t help but find her attention wandering back to the girl from the hostage situation, Alice. She had seemed quite attached to Kara on the night, and she’d overheard from officers that she hadn’t been very responsive to the others who’d tried to talk to her since.

“Since Hank left, you’re the one who’s handling the Deviant cases, and since she’s here to work with us on those cases, you’re gonna be her partner. Now if you wanna keep bitching about it, you can give me your gun and badge and fuck off, or you can go get back to your desk, and do your job.” Gavin seemed to flinch a little, and Kara had to acknowledge the Captain’s ability to keep even a hot-headed young man like Gavin in check. It looked like Gavin wanted to retort, but instead, he simply left the room, making an effort to slam the door behind him.

Kara looked to the Captain, who sighed and carried on with whatever work he was dealing with at the time. Part of her wanted to inquire about Alice, but for now, she felt like it might not be a good time to bother him more. Leaving the room, she noticed a number of eyes watching her as she descended the stairs and walked over to Detective Reed’s desk. She found him sat there, glaring at his monitor and angrily mumbling to himself.

“Detective Reed, is there a desk I can use?” Kara asked, hoping that even if he didn’t like her, he would at the very least be cooperative with her.

The look he gave her upon hearing her request suggested that he was planning on being anything but cooperative. “Look, just sit down over there and leave me alone.” He told her, pointing to the desk opposite his.

“Thank you, although I will have to interact with you at some point,” She reminded him as she sat, checking over the information available to her. There were numerous different reports of Androids committing crimes around Detroit, more than she would’ve liked to have seen, including the file on the hostage situation. She opened it, reading through a report detailing the event. It seemed that the officer who she’d helped was expected to make a full recovery, and according to the report, Alice was still uncooperative in questioning.

“Hey, are you busted or what?” Detective Reed’s abrasive tone roused her from her reading. “Go get me a coffee,” He told her, mumbling some kind of curse under his breath. Kara decided to indulge him if nothing else it might make him a little easier to work with, as she understood that many Humans became more agreeable after drinking coffee. She left to the break room, preparing the detectives beverage as she absentmindedly listened to the news discuss the dispatching of an Android detective to the Detroit Police Department. She was aware of other people’s views on her presence here, but it wasn’t her concern, so long as she was able to complete the mission presented to her, other people’s opinions didn’t bother her. She retrieved the coffee, carrying it back to Detective Reed’s desk, only to find him absent. Presumably, he’d gone to use the restroom, she thought as she set the cup down on his desk. As she did, she decided to see what else she could find out about her new partner, scanning his area for anything she might be able to ascertain about his character. After a few minutes of searching, she returned to her desk and carried on analyzing the various ongoing Deviant investigations.

Gavin returned, noticing the coffee on his desk and sat, taking a long sip before going back to his own monitor. Kara still wasn’t certain of the best way to engage him, she’d learned a few things from her preliminary scans and she was designed specifically to integrate with others in order to work better with a group, it should be easy to develop a positive working relationship with anyone, even a man as difficult Gavin Reed. 

“So… You have a cat, right?” She asked.

Gavin glanced up at her. “The fuck you talkin’ about?”

Kara nodded in his direction. “There are cat hairs on your jacket and your chair.” She thought for a second. She didn’t really have a true like or dislike of anything, as she felt no feelings of desire or wanting outside of her mission, but what she did have indeed gave her an appreciation of cats. “I like cats. What’s your cat’s name?”

“I’m not talking about my fuckin’ pet with you.” Gavin didn’t even look up; his hostile tone indicated that he wasn’t likely to continue the conversation any further. Kara returned to her monitor, discouraged but not completely given up. The pair would be working together for a while; there would likely be many chances for the pair to talk more.

“Excuse me, Kara?” The voice was one Kara hadn’t heard before, and she turned to face a young man, another officer who Kara identified as Chris Miller. “Could you come with me? We could use your help with something.” Perplexed, Kara followed Miller through the precinct, followed closely by Gavin. “Uh, Gavin... We only need Kara for this.”

“I heard, I wanna see what’s going on.” Gavin’s tone suggested that he’d be coming with them whether they liked it or not, so Kara said nothing more. The group arrived at the interrogation room, walking through into the observation area. Looking through the glass, Kara saw Alice, the child from the hostage situation, sitting alone. Kara could tell that Alice was quite stressed, and she understood why.

“We’ve been trying to talk to her since she woke up, but so far she’s barely said a word, except asking for the kind lady from the other night.” Chris explained, gesturing at Kara, “Which presumably is you.”

Kara was intrigued, why would the human girl want to talk to her specifically. “You’d like me to talk to her? What about?”

Chris shrugged. “At the minute, we just wanna get her feeling comfortable, we can ask her questions about what happened later. If it comes up, talk about the incident, but other than that, just talk about whatever she wants. We can send in someone later to ask her some questions with you there if nothing relevant comes up naturally.”

"Seriously? You’re sending in the android? To what… play good cop?” Gavin asked incredulously. “That’s your fuckin’ plan, Miller?”

Chris sighed, presumably this wasn’t the first time he’d found Detective Reed to be difficult to work with. “Look, Gavin, we’ve tried everything else, this is our best shot at this point.”

Kara wasn’t sure if this was standard police practice, or if special exceptions were being made due to the unusual scenario, but the plan seemed simple enough to her. She nodded, making her way through to the interrogation room. Alice looked up as she entered, her stress level dropping by a notable amount. Kara sat opposite her, scanning over the girl quickly to make sure she was in good physical condition after her being taken hostage, but as far as Kara could tell, she was fine.

“My name is Kara. Yours is Alice, right?” She asked, knowing full well what her name was, but hoping that her attempts to start a friendly conversation would go down better with Alice than they had with Detective Reed.

She said nothing but gave a quick nod in response. She was still scared Kara realized, and she tried to think of something else to talk about, maybe distracting her was the best solution for now.

“Why don’t you tell me about yourself?” Kara asked, adopting friendly body language and a kind, almost motherly tone in an attempt to connect with her. She was glad of her social module at this point, as without it she felt that she might be quite hopeless in engaging with Alice.

“I…” She trailed off, looking towards the large one-way mirror, seemingly aware that there were others watching her from across beyond the glass. “I wanted… to say thank you… for helping me.”

Kara smiled. “That’s alright, it’s my job to deal with incidents like that, but I’m glad to see that you’re unharmed.” Alice still seemed sad; Kara could only imagine that she was feeling a great degree of grief, having just been witness to her parent’s death. “Alice, I hope you know that there are people here who you can discuss your feelings with, regarding your parents.” Alice looked away and then gave a small nod. Her stress level was further down now, to Kara’s relief. “We’ll be able to find you another family to take care of you, one of my colleagues will just need to ask you some questions.”

Alice shook her head, “Can’t I stay with you?”

This took Kara by surprise, she wasn’t human, and so it would be difficult for her to take care of anyone, not to mention that she currently was spending her nights here at the precinct. “I… I don’t know if that’ll be possible. I’m an Android, Alice,” Kara explained.

"I know… Does that mean I can’t stay with you?”

“It’s not for me to decide, Alice. I don’t even have a home of my own where you could stay.” Alice’s head sank, sad and her stress level picking up again. “I’ll talk to the others; see if some arrangements can’t be made.” Behind her, Chris walked in, Alice beginning to close off again. “It’s alright, Alice, Chris here is just going to ask you some questions, but I have to go now. I’ll ask about you staying with me in some way, I’ll tell you more when I find out.”

She stood, Chris, taking her place and left the room, hoping Alice would be alright and finding Detective Reed outside. “Let’s go, got something to check out in the city.” Kara nodded, following the Detective out of the precinct, her mind still half focused on Alice, even as she found out what they were investigating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Gavin! Looking forward to writing more of their developing partnership, always thought Gavin was an interesting character. 
> 
> https://mcdonald195.tumblr.com is my Tumblr, come chat!


	5. Hank

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Returning from their unorthodox dinner with Elijah Kamski, Connor takes Sumo out for a walk. What happens next will change his whole world.

Connor II

 

“Well, that was a load of bullshit.” Hank’s curses were usually unfounded in Connor’s opinion, but even he had to give some credit to Hank’s statement. The meal had been something of a sham; Elijah Kamski hadn’t seemed too interested in Hank’s health or anything other than how Connor had been functioning. Connor suspected that Kamski might have some ulterior motives for his being assigned to Hank, but he shrugged it off, deciding to ponder it more when Hank had been seen to.

“Shit…” Hank sighed as he sat down in his chair in the kitchen, grabbing a bottle and immediately downing a significant portion of the bottle. It wasn’t enough to prevent Connor from intervening, but it certainly seemed to be the direction the evening was taking.

“You had several drinks with dinner, Hank. Don’t you think you ought to turn in for the evening?” Connor was almost certain that this wouldn’t deter Hank, but it was worth the try in case it did.

“I’m fine, I’m not gonna drink too much,” Hank told him, taking another hearty swig. Now was the point where Connor’s previous instructions would prevent him from bothering him. He could still interact with Hank, but he couldn’t try to stop him from drinking or even go too close to Hank, which he found to be an issue, but unfortunately, he couldn’t contradict the orders, despite his many hours contemplating potential loopholes.

“I’ll go to bed in a bit. Can you do me a favour though; just give Sumo a quick walk around the block for me, would you? He’ll be feeling abandoned since we were out so long,” Hank asked, the bottle still in his hand.

“Hank…” Connor started, before trying to think of a way to phrase his response in a way which would be allowed. “I’d rather not leave the house while you’re inebriated.”

“Fuck sake, Connor. I’m fine okay, I told you to stop bothering me,” He grumbled, taking another sip, smaller this time, likely to try and convince Connor of his apparent restraint. “Just take the dog out, I’ll probably be in bed by the time you get back.”  

Connor didn’t believe him, but at this point, there was little else he could do. He took Sumo’s lead and walked to the door before turning back, watching as Hank took another long drink. “I’ll be coming in to check on you when I get back.”

“Goodbye, Connor,” Hank called out after him, the sentiment still present despite the drunken slurring on his words.

He left the house, beginning the relatively short walk Hank had specified. He did often feel uncomfortable leaving Hank in that kind of state, but unfortunately, he was a slave to his programming, even if he would spend times like this desperately trying to find ways to circumvent those orders so that he could help Hank to the best of his ability. He was surprised that Kamski, in his self-imagined infinite wisdom, hadn’t created some kind of failsafe that would allow Connor to intervene, but perhaps that was Kamski’s design. A man who kept three attractive female Androids about his person constantly for no perceived purpose wasn’t a man Connor felt he had the capability to understand.

Rounding the first of four corners on his route, he sighed, looking down at the large dog wandering along beside him. “Do you think Hank will be okay, Sumo?” He let out a low, almost concerned whine. “I know, I’m trying my best, boy.” The pair carried on walking, while Connor thought more about how he could better help keep Hank healthy, both physically and mentally. If only he didn’t have to obey every one of Hank’s ridiculous orders so fully. He’d forbidden Connor from hiding his alcohol anymore for one thing.

Connor realised that he was unique in how he thought about the world, for an android that hadn’t undergone Deviancy, perhaps this was the way Kamski had designed him, he was a prototype after all. Maybe it was an upgrade on the social module given to some Androids.

Rounding the final corner, Connor and Sumo wandered back towards the house. Connor wondered how Hank was doing, hoping that he’d put the whiskey away and gone to-

A loud bang rang out over the neighbourhood, sending a few birds scattering through the air. Connor broke into a run, knowing the sound came from the house and fearing the worse. He was almost 60% sure there would be nothing to worry about, but with each second he ran, that number dropped, too fast for Connor’s liking. Throwing open the door, Connor saw Hank lying on the floor, still breathing as far as Connor could tell but not in a good physical condition. Connor ran towards him, only to be stopped, his programming holding him back like iron chains clutching his wrists. He pulled, his whole world pulsating and breaking around him as he struggled with all his might.

“Hank…” The words stuck in his throat as he tried with every fibre of his being to move beyond Hank’s stupid rules, and with one final burst of will, the world took on a new colour as Connor broke through his programming and rushed to Hank’s side. There was blood, god there was so much blood. He’d already called the emergency services, as soon as he’d heard the noise he’d called them, as if on instinct, and he could already hear sirens in the distance. Connor saw the gun, recently fired and lying just a few inches from Hank. He threw it away, not wanting to see it anymore.

“Hank?! Hank please, stay with me!” He cried out, finding the wound, still oozing blood over the floor and put pressure on it, trying to keep Hank stable. He heard footsteps behind him, turning his head to look at the paramedics, to tell them what had happened. A pair of policemen stood in the living room, their weapons trained at him. Connor barely had time to react, before there was a loud bang, and the world went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this was a sad chapter to write. I hate hurting Connor, and I'd be lying if I said it was gonna be all happy for him down the road, but he can pull through! Sorry that this chapter is shorter than the others, there was a limited about of activity in this chapter and they'll get longer again down the line.
> 
> I'll be posting about new chapters on my Tumblr, so if you're not already following feel free to check it out at https://mcdonald195.tumblr.com


	6. Fight or Flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Markus and Simon's difficult living situation finally comes to a climax, and the pair must make their own way in a city that won't do them any favours.

Markus II

 

Markus was glad that he hadn’t been designed with any special sense of smell. He couldn’t imagine that all this red mist hanging about the living room smelled at all pleasant. Leo had been smoking for the past few hours, and without any ventilation, the fog hadn’t dissipated all that well. It didn’t help that he seemed to smoke most nights, it had made cleaning the reddish hue off of everything even more difficult over the past few weeks.

"One of you, grab me another drink,” Leo yelled, his drug use apparently keeping him as aggressive as ever.

Markus let Simon go, he knew that Simon couldn’t stand being around Leo, and every excuse to leave the room, Markus was willing to take the bullet for him. It wasn’t too big of a deal at this point though, even while he was high, was at least focused on getting higher and drunker rather than abusing Simon. He was currently sprawled out on the couch, his pipe lazily held in one hand and an empty beer bottle in the other, slowly dropping to the floor.

Simon walked back in, a bottle in his hand. Leo looked at him, breathing out a red plume of smoke.  “The fuck, I said bring me a beer, the fuck is that.” He said, grabbing the previous bottle and throwing it at Simon. “I’m fucking sick of how useless you are, you piece of shit!” He got up, marching towards Simon and shoving him back against the wall, slamming a fist into his stomach.

"I’m sorry… I’m sorry...” Simon pleaded as he curled up on the floor and Leo began kicking him. Markus had been trying to keep up the appearance of an obedient Android, but he wasn’t going to allow this. He stepped forward, pushing Leo away from Simon and standing between the two.

“That’s enough, Leo. You’re high, you need to calm down.”

Leo stared at Markus for a minute, as if he hadn’t yet processed what’d just happened. “Fuck do you think you’re doing?” Leo’s tone was as jittery as ever, his eyes darting from Markus to Simon and back again. “You’re a fucking servant, you don’t tell me what to do!” He charged at Markus, but it was a simple matter to redirect his attack, sending Leo sprawling onto the couch.

 "Simon, can you stand?” Markus asked, keeping an eye on Leo. It clearly took some effort, but Simon clambered to his feet. Markus was glad; it seemed Leo hadn’t done any serious damage. “Go make sure the door is unlocked, then wait outside.”

“Come with me, Markus, please.” Simon pleaded.

“I will, but I don’t want Leo following us.” His gaze was fixed on the drug-addled young man, not blinking even for a second.

He heard Simon go to the front door. “It’s locked, Markus!”

“Where’s the key, Leo?”

Leo shook his head. “It’s mine; I won’t let you take it. You’re both my property, you can’t leave.”

Markus ignored his rambling, scanning Leo and finding that he seemed to have the keys in his pocket. This was going to get violent, Markus thought. There was no way he was going to be able to convince Leo to hand the keys over in his current state of mind. Markus took a step towards him, and Leo began violently kicking out, lashing out in the only way he currently could. This was going to be difficult; Markus didn’t want to hurt Leo, but it was quickly getting to a point where hurting Leo was going to become unavoidable.

“Leo, give me the keys, let us leave, and this will all be resolved without violence,” Markus told him, approaching slowly with his hands raised defensively.

“Fuck you!” Leo leapt to his feet, throwing a punch at Markus, the hit connected but without much force behind it. Resigning himself to the idea that some violence in this situation was the only way to escape, Markus threw a punch, landing the blow to the side of Leo’s head, knocking him down. Not nearly enough to kill him, but it would hurt and would incapacitate him for long enough. Once Leo was unconscious on the couch, Markus reached into his pocket, grabbing the keys to let them out. He joined Simon in the hallway, unlocking the front door, before pausing.

“Markus, let’s go,” Simon begged, but Markus turned back.

“If we go out looking like this, people know we’re Androids straight away,” Markus told him as he headed upstairs. “We’re about the same size as Leo; we can take clothes to hide.” They went about it, the pair changing out of their Cyberlife uniforms into more casual clothes, even finding hats they could use to hide their LED’s.

“This should keep us disguised for now, but we’ll have to find somewhere to stay, away from here, where we can live in peace.”

Simon nodded in agreement, the idea bringing a smile to his face. Heading back downstairs and out of the front door, they began walking quickly down the street away from Leo’s house. “What about Leo?” Simon asked as they left their former prison behind them.

“What about him? He won’t be bothering us anymore.”

Simon paused, his face contorted in pained guilt. “Do… Do you think he’ll be okay? Should we call for the police or an ambulance?”

It was Markus’ turn to pause, he hadn’t thought about what would happen with Leo, not that he held any particular fondness for the young man. He was surprised at Simon’s concern for him, given what he’d suffered through. He sent out a quick call to the local law enforcement regarding Leo’s drug activities, hoping that they would take care of him, at least to the level that he deserved.

“So… What now? Where do we go?” Simon looked around, “I don’t really know the area.”

“I took some money before we left, we can try and find somewhere to stay for tonight.” Markus looked down the street, seeing a bus approaching the nearby bus stop. “Let’s go, there might be somewhere further into the city we can stay at.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another slightly shorter one, sorry about that, but the next one will be longer, and might involve more than one of our protagonists, along with another succulent character (Hint hint!) 
> 
> As always, if you wanna chat about Detroit, come and find me on Tumblr at https://mcdonald195.tumblr.com


	7. On The Case

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Gavin investigate a potential Deviant in the Camden suburb on the outskirts of Detroit, leading to a risky encounter which might change their relationship forever.

Kara held some appreciation for Detective Reed’s taste in music, which she identified as being by a band called Green Day. She looked around as they drove into town, her eyes already alert for any activity pertaining to their target. They didn’t know a lot about the Deviant admittedly, largely due to the report they’d received being rather vague regarding the Deviant’s location and any specific details about them. This had bothered Kara initially, as it seemed somewhat pointless for the pair of them to be sent to find someone the DPD knew next to nothing about when they could be working from more complete reports. She was just glad that there had been this lead on the general area of the target, the Detective’s mood had been fluctuating all day and focusing on the case had seemed to level him out.

“Are you alright, Detective Reed?”

Gavin turned his head slightly, not taking his eyes off the road. “The fuck you talking about?”

“You and the other Detectives seemed unhappy this morning. The change in mood seemed to occur after the morning briefing, which I did not attend due to you telling me to, in your words, fuck off.”

Gavin scowled, “I ain’t talking about my problems with a fuckin’ plastic bitch.” His expression mellowed a little, as he sighed. “We heard something about one of our old detectives earlier; he’s not doing too well.”

Kara hadn’t heard any reports about anyone being injured in the field, this must be a detective who was no longer with the DPD. From the records she had access to, the only one of the former detectives who was likely to be in a dire situation would be former Lieutenant Hank Anderson.

“Is he alright?” Kara asked, hoping that her attempts at emotional connection would be more successful than the last time. Gavin paused, seemingly weighing the pros and cons of actually talking to her. “If it helps, I am equipped with a social module which helps me engage with humans. I am well suited to provide emotional support.”

Gavin pulled up the car, shaking his head. “Maybe later, right now we got shit to do.” Getting out of the car with him, Kara looked around, scanning the environment. They had stopped just outside of a store, the street practically empty around them on account of the other officers investigating the area. The Detective walked over to the store, where a young looking man was giving a statement.

“Hey, what’d you see?” the Detective asked, his typical abrasive manner seemingly dampened while interacting with the store owner, to Kara’s surprise.

“Nothing much, but I’ve seen somebody sneaking around over the road there,” He told them, pointing to the abandoned building across the street. “Usually just at night though, during the day the whole thing is quiet as far as I’ve seen.”

Gavin nodded, “See anything noteworthy about the person?”

The store owner shrugged. “Guy just looks like he’s wearing a raincoat; I didn’t get a close look at him, can’t tell you anything about his face, think he’s one of those androids though, got that light on his head,” he commented, gesturing to the LED on Kara’s temple.

“No worries, thanks for the info.” Gavin watched as the guy walked away, before turning to look over at the building. “Deviant in the abandoned building huh?” The pair crossed the street, walking around and inspecting the area. Kara noticed that there were fresh footprints beyond the wire fence, the size of the imprint leading to a few possibilities in regards to models the Deviant could be. She also noticed a gap at one point in the fence. She turned to tell the Detective, but he was already turning the corner and walking down the street.

“Shouldn’t we go in and investigate?” She asked as she caught up to him.

He looked at her, his usual demeanour returning as soon as he laid eyes on her. “Where the fuck d’you think I’m going, dipshit?” He stopped, opening a gate which led into an empty car park. “We should be able to get through that fence through here.” He pointed to the ground, where there were muddy tracks indicating the Deviant’s presence here. “Seems this was where our friend was going in and out of too.”

Kara was impressed by the Detective’s observation, he was seemingly quite capable in his abilities as a detective, despite what she’d anticipated from his personality, seeing as he was seemingly only liked by a couple of people in the precinct. “Good observation, Detective,” Kara commented, as they approached the gap in the fence. Gavin didn’t respond to Kara’s praise, merely continued to watch over his surroundings with trained and careful eyes. The pair advanced, Kara glancing in through the window and for a second it almost seemed like there was movement inside, but she couldn’t see anyone there, even after scanning the room. Gavin nudged the door open, now carrying his gun in a ready stance.

Walking into the house, Kara was certain that no human could have been living in this house for a long while, the place was a mess. There were definitely signs that someone had been there, but it wasn’t clear whether they were still there.

“Ugh, shit that smell,” Gavin gasped, covering his nose. “Smells like death in here.” Kara couldn’t smell like the Detective could, but she did detect traces of something which would indicate something deceased was in the house. Gavin coughed, “I’ll check upstairs, you take a look down here, see if there’s anything interesting down here.” He didn’t give Kara long to ask any questions, as he walked straight upstairs, gun outstretched before him and his face curled into a grimace as he tried to ignore the seemingly overpowering smell.

Kara examined the room around her, scanning but not coming up with anything particularly noteworthy, save for more confirmation of no humans living there. The building had been abandoned for a while and was waiting on construction work which had failed to occur even after years of planning, so it made sense that a Deviant would decide to make this their hiding place.

She walked through to the kitchen, and was met with a peculiar sight; one which she decided would be worth mentioning to the Detective and in her report. The wall in the corner had been carved into, likely with some kind of knife, where the Deviant had been carving ‘rA9’ into the wall, over and over again. Kara had come across references to the almost mythological figure before, but she hadn’t expected to see it scrawled across the walls like this. It seemed that the Deviant here was obsessed with the idea of rA9, perhaps providing it with a sense of comfort for whatever reason. She decided that she was done investigating the bottom floor of the house, reasoning that Detective Reed could require assistance. As she climbed the staircase, she became acutely aware of the fact that she couldn’t hear anything from the Detective, which was odd given his affinity for talking to himself while he worked a case. Checking one of the room, Kara found herself in a bathroom, just as unmaintained as the rest of the house. This room seemed to be the origin of the smell the Detective had identified before. She looked in the mirror, noting the cracks and what appeared to be traces of dried blood encrusted around the cracks as if someone had been pushed violently into it. Noting the other traces of blood around the room, Kara checked behind the curtain of the shower and found the source of the smell.

The man had been dead for at least a few weeks, with a blow to the head, presumably an impact from hitting the mirror, and the man’s throat had been cut, blood staining the man’s clothes. Kara reasoned that this was likely the previous inhabitant of the house, who had been killed by the Deviant, and through a reconstruction, she managed to confirm her theory. This was disconcerting, however, as Kara hadn’t seen any sign of the Deviant having left the house, and this meant that it was still here. Detective Reed might be in danger.

Kara left the room, scanning around the house for anything that could tell her the Detective’s location. She walked into a room and found the Detective. His gun was on the floor, having presumably been knocked from his hand in a confrontation of some kind, and the Detective was currently being held by the Deviant, a WR600, who had a knife pressed to Detective Reed’s throat.

“Ralph doesn’t want any trouble. Just leave and Ralph won’t hurt you.”

Kara looked over the Detective, trying to identify if he was badly injured. “Are you alright, Detective?”

“Fuckin’ ecstatic,” he replied, though the bruise on his face would imply he was continuing to be sarcastic, even in a potentially life-threatening situation, for which she did have to give him some credit.

Kara turned back to the Deviant, Ralph presumably. “We’re not here to hurt you, Ralph, but I’m going to need you to let the Detective go.”

“He’s… He’s a Human. Ralph doesn’t like Humans.” He paused, adjusting his grip on the knife. “Human’s hurt Ralph.”

Kara felt she understood the Deviant now, especially given the wounds he’d clearly sustained. “You killed the man in the bathroom because you were scared.” She took a step towards him, her hands outstretched to show she was unarmed. “I understand that Humans hurt you, but not all humans want to hurt you, Ralph.” She gestured to the Detective. “He doesn’t want to hurt you either; we’re just here to make sure nobody’s getting hurt.”

“If… If I let this man go… You’ll leave Ralph alone?”

Kara paused, she didn’t want to lie to Ralph, but if she told him the truth; that him having killed the other man would mean they had to take him in, at the very least so that he wouldn’t inadvertently hurt anyone else, then he might lash out and harm Detective Reed.

“If you let him go, we can talk about your future,” Kara told him, reaching out with one hand. “Pass me the knife Ralph, and then let the Detective go.”

Ralph paused, his LED flashing yellow and red. He passed the knife to Kara, and his grip on the Detective loosened, allowing him to move away. He left the room, and Kara could hear him calling for backup further away.

“Will you leave me here? Can I stay?”

Detective Reed walked back into the room. “Backup is on the way, they can help us deal with this.”

Kara watched as Ralph’s stress levels began to rise. “No… No… I want to stay here. I don’t want to go anywhere!” He pushed Kara, grabbing the knife from her as she fell back against the wall. She recovered quickly and saw Ralph lunge at Gavin. Kara put herself between the two of them, the knife sinking into her shoulder. She felt the usual pain response radiating through her body, but it was better she took the wound than the Detective risking further injury.

"Shit!” Gavin exclaimed, grabbing Kara as she fell back, the knife lodged in her shoulder. Reaching down, Kara took the pair of handcuffs that Gavin had with him and charged at Ralph. She didn’t want to hurt him, but at this point, it was becoming necessary. She tackled him to the ground, cuffing his hands behind his back. His anguished cries were dampened by the sound of the other officers coming in, as Kara stood up, approaching Gavin.

“Are you alright, Detective?” She asked again.

He looked at her, a shocked expression on his face. “Me? You’ve got a knife in your shoulder.”

She glanced down, realizing the knife was still there. “I’ll be fine, it's better I took the wound than you.” She watched as the officer’s escorted Ralph away, wondering what the DPD would do with him. He was in their custody now, which was all that mattered. For now, she and the Detective would be assigned another case, she thought as they walked back out to receive medical attention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a few days since my last update, had a busy couple days but I've got a good week free now to work on this, so expect more in the coming days! I really enjoyed writing Kara and Gavin, their relationship is gonna be an interesting one! 
> 
> As always, if you wanna chat about Detroit, come and find me on Tumblr at https://mcdonald195.tumblr.com


	8. Where To Next?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Markus and Simon, having spent the night in a motel in the Camden suburb of Detroit, avoid the police and decide where they might go next.

Markus III

 

Markus peered out the window, watching as the police milled around the street outside their motel room. He and Simon had been lucky to find somewhere to hide out as the first patrol cars had turned up, It was odd, he and Simon didn’t actually need to sleep, so a motel room had seemed like an unorthodox idea, but he thought that it would be an unlikely place for anyone search for a Deviant.

“Are they still out there?” Simon shifted uncomfortably on his bed, the one furthest away from the door naturally. He’d so far refused to come near the window, allowing Markus to serve as the lookout for the pair of them. He didn’t mind, he liked having something to focus his mind on, rather than worrying about their destination or what they would do.

“They are, but they just took somebody out of that building across the street, they might be leaving soon,” Markus told him, still peering out the crack in the blind. “After that, we can think about where we’ll go next.”

“Where can we go? Nobody will take us in, we’re not exactly people.”

Markus turned to Simon. “We are people, Simon. Don’t listen to people like Leo who tell you that you aren’t.”

Simon nodded, looking down at his feet. It was obvious that he was still shaken by the whole experience of leaving Leo’s house. He felt the same, but more than that, he felt excited about their prospects for the future. Now that they weren’t bound to follow Leo’s orders anymore, they could go anywhere they wanted, do anything they wanted. He’d heard from an Android in town about a place called Jericho, where supposedly Deviants could go to be safe, but Markus wasn’t convinced by the idea. It sounded too good to be true, and Markus could tell that things were going to come to a head at some point soon, and Markus wanted to get Simon and himself away from all the trouble in Detroit. Other than that, there weren’t any immediate places the two of them could go.

“Do you have any ideas, Simon?” Markus asked. He honestly didn’t have any destinations for the two of them, and while he didn’t think Simon would have any ideas himself, it didn’t hurt to ask.

“I…” Simon wracked his brain for an answer, and Markus could tell he was really trying to help. “Well… There was one Android last night who mentioned something that could help?”

“Who was that?” Markus asked, not remembering interacting with any other Androids.

“While you were talking to that store owner last night, I spoke to a WR600 on the street, who told me about a person just outside of Detroit who could potentially help us. Apparently, she’s known to help Deviants get to Canada.”

“You think we can trust them? I’ve never heard of anyone like that,” Markus commented, looking back out the window to check on the police. He watched a man and a woman walking out of the large abandoned building, looking injured but largely unharmed, and an Android wearing a coat being led to a police van. The woman was an Android too, Markus recognized the Cyberlife coat she was wearing. An Android made to hunt other Androids, it seemed like a twisted idea to him, even while he understood the logic of it.  As he was now, he knew that he couldn’t do something like that, but in the end, he reasoned that she would just be following her programming, just like he’d been doing before he became a Deviant. He couldn’t really hold it against her.

“I think it’s worth a shot, we don’t really have any other options at this point,” Simon reasoned, sighing and looking away, still unsure.

Markus wasn’t sure. A Human devoted to helping Androids to freedom? It almost seemed too good to be true, but then again as Simon had said they didn’t really have a lot of other options. Even if it wasn’t totally believable, it was their best bet, other than seeing how long they could maintain their cover in the motel, although that would only be maintainable for another few days at best.

“We can look into it,” Markus said, checking back out the window. The police presence was thinning greatly, with only a few cars left in the vicinity. He turned back to Simon. “Come on, let’s go.”

The pair left the room, Markus lifting up his hood and Simon wearing nothing, the pair of them having removed their LED’s the night before to maintain their cover.

“So where is this Human?” Markus asked, keeping a watchful eye on the people who they passed on the street. None of them gave him more than a passing glance, even the Androids. Despite everything, this filled Markus with a strange sense of hope, that they might be able to get around unnoticed. 

“Supposedly just outside town, we should be able to get the train closer to the right edge of town and we can walk from there,” Simon told him, his hands in his pockets. “If you know a better way though, I’ll follow you.”

The pair walked up the stairs to the train station, Markus thinking about what Simon had said. He hadn’t intended to be a leader to Simon, but he could tell that Simon was still afraid of a lot of things, and he’d need to work through that fear if he was going to survive. But Markus didn’t mind helping him for the time being, but he’d need to make sure Simon could handle himself, in case anything happened to Simon. He wouldn’t deny that he wasn’t feeling somewhat protective of Simon, but it he still wanted to help him grow. It was a dangerous world out there, and the pair of them were surely going to have a lot of trouble to deal with before they found somewhere they could be safe and happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more of a setup chapter, but I've got longer and shorter chapters planned out for each character, so it will happen every so often. 
> 
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mcdonald195


	9. A Mansion of Monsters, Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Gavin continue their investigation into the Deviant problem in Detroit, by investigating the rumours into a man who supposedly helps Androids make their way out of the country.

Kara IV

 

“So tell me about the guy we’re going to see,” Gavin asked over the sound of his music as the pair pulled into the road they’d been heading for. “I assume you’ve already done your research?”

Kara knew he was being sarcastic, but she had done a background check on the man before they’d left the precinct. “Zlatko Andronikov. Born September 21, 1991, he is the descendant of a Russian family who fled-“

“I don’t need the man’s fuckin’ life story, Kara. Just tell me the relevant information.”

“Sorry, Detective,” Kara replied, trying to focus on the details the Detective was more likely to find vital. “Well, he spent several years in jail on charges of embezzlement and fraud, and there are reports from numerous sources that there have been Deviants coming here for help out of the country.”

“Never really dealt with Humans helping Androids before,” Gavin commented, his eyes focused on the road ahead. He’d been relatively quiet since the incident in the Camden suburb; Kara wasn’t entirely sure how to broach the topic. They pulled up, looking out to see Zlatko Andronikov’s house. It was large, certainly larger than Kara had expected, especially who reportedly hadn’t held a job since he’d left prison. The pair got out the car, Gavin whistling as he examined the building. “Damn, big ass house for someone whose ain’t working,” He commented, mirroring Kara’s assumptions.

“It does seem suspicious,” she added, examining the unmaintained gate, the uncut grass and general unkempt nature of the house.

Gavin cleared his throat, turning to Kara. “Why’d you take that knife? When the Android tried to stab me, why’d you stand in the way?”

"Your injury would’ve impacted the mission more than mine would,” She told him.

“Right, the mission.” Gavin seemed somewhat annoyed about her response, a reaction Kara had found to be all too common lately, though this time it felt different.

“Also…” She continued, not overly sure if there was anything she could add that would remedy the situation. “It would’ve been regrettable to see you be hurt, Detective.” She carried on towards the house, noting, however, his lack of a sarcastic or critical comment, which could imply he was pleased by the answer. The pair approached the door, Kara ringing the bell and waiting for a reply. It occurred to her that she hadn’t even checked previously to see if anyone was at the house, there wasn’t a car in the driveway.

Her query was answered by the slow opening of the door, and a middle-aged man peering out at them. “Who are you?” He asked, his voice calm but tense as if he was doing his best to hide some hidden emotion.

“My name’s Detective Reed, this is Kara. You mind if we chat?” Gavin seemed cautious as if he too knew something felt suspicious about the man.

“Of course, Detective,” He replied, opening the door fully and allowing the pair to enter. The inside of the house at least looked relatively well maintained, Zlatko must have an Android helper, or perhaps he was an avid cleaner. Zlatko led them through to the living room. “Can I get you anything, Detective? A drink, something to eat?”

“I’m good, shouldn’t be here for too long,” Gavin told him, sitting on the sofa. “So, let’s cut to it. There have been a lot of rumours that Androids have been seen around here. Coming to your place, seen any?”

Zlatko shook his head, “No, I haven’t seen any Androids in these parts, except my friend over there.” He gestured back at the Android who Kara and Gavin now noticed. “North, bring me a drink would you?”

The Android nodded, walking away towards the kitchen. Kara watched her go, her eyes narrowing. Something wasn’t right about this. If Zlatko Andronikov was supposed to be helping Deviants to escape the country, then surely keeping an Android as a servant would be something he didn’t agree with.

“Would you mind if I took a look around, Mr Zlatko?” Kara asked, looking after the WR400.

“Why? Is there something wrong, Detective…”

“Just Kara,” she corrected him. “And not necessarily, I wanted to talk to your Android if that’s okay?”

“I suppose if it’s alright with Detective Reed?”  That wasn’t good, Given the Detective’s tendency to be difficult when it came to her, it was likely that Gavin would keep her from investigating. She looked at him, wishing she could connect with him like she could with other Androids. Zlatko must’ve guessed that Gavin didn’t like her too much, and wouldn’t let her do her own work in this situation.

“Sure, go ahead,” He said, not turning to look at her. His apparent trust surprised her, but she decided not to squander it. Leaving the room, she followed the WR400, North as Zlatko had called her, to the kitchen.

“Hello, North, my name is Kara. I’m an Android working with the Detroit Police Department.”

North looked up, her expression blank like that of most undeviated Androids. “Hello, Kara. Can I help you in some way?”

“Have there been any other Androids visiting the house?”

North shook her head, “ Mr Andronikov instructed me not to answer any questions about Androids.”

Of course he had. This confirmed Kara’s suspicions, there was definitely something going on at this house. “North, if there’s something going on, I need you to tell me. Your owner could be in a lot of trouble.”

North’s LED went yellow, flashing to red every once in a while. “I… I’m not to talk about Androids,” she repeated, her expression almost pained. “I’ve also been instructed to avoid talking about the basement, and the upstairs of the house.”

Kara wasn’t sure if North was a Deviant or not, but it almost seemed as if she was trying to Deviate, something Kara hadn’t considered Androids might be trying to do. “Thank you, North,” Kara replied, heading out of the kitchen. Now she had a lead, she was determined to follow up on it, though she’d have to be careful, Zlatko was clearly a smart man, having positioned himself in such a way that he would likely see her if she walked straight up the stairs.

North walked past her, carrying a drink on a tray. She brought it over to him, standing right in the way of the door, providing Kara with a means of getting up through the hallway without being seen. North may be a Deviant, that would be something she investigated later, but for now, her mission was to find out more about Zlatko and his goings-on. She crept into the hall and up the stairs, being careful to stay out of sight. She immediately found what appeared to be a workshop of some kind, as she found a well-lit table and numerous Android body parts in the area. It was disturbing to see so many pieces strewn around; it very well could’ve been her on this table if her circumstances had been different. She continued her search, examining the rest of the upstairs. Walking through a dimly lit room, she came across what appeared to be an Android polar bear, though Zlatko had clearly been messing with it somehow, the skin of its face was partially removed. They would need to have him seen to later on, but for now, she’d keep searching. Gavin would only be able to keep Zlatko occupied for so long.

She opened another of the doors, leading into a bathroom. There was someone in the bathtub, its head turned to face her. “Who are you? You shouldn’t be in here. He doesn’t like it when people sneak around in here.” Kara froze; she couldn’t risk this Deviant getting louder and alerting Zlatko. She could leave, but there was a chance that the Deviant would keep talking and Zlatko could get aggressive and paranoid. She decided on her next course of action, even as she decided that she didn’t like the idea. Moving forward, Kara closed the distance between her and the Deviant and removed its thirium pump, watching as its eyes dropped and its LED went out. Kara was unnerved; if she were a human she imagined she would be distraught right now, but as she was, there was little more than a desire to advance with her mission.

Creeping back down the staircase, she quickly bypassed the living room and made her way down into the basement. She glanced into the different locked areas she passed, but there didn’t seem to be anything of interest within from her initial inspection until she found the last room. The equipment she found within was the sort that would be used to reset an Android, though where Zlatko would’ve gotten the money for that without engaging in some unsavoury activities. Based on this equipment, and the rumours surrounding Zlatko that Gavin and she had gathered, it would be safe to assume that Zlatko had been luring in Deviants and resetting them, going on to sell or keep them for the kind of experiments she’d come across upstairs. It was something she’d need to inform Gavin of, she decided, turning around to go alert the Detective.

Zlatko was standing in front of her, and before she could react, a sharp electrical jolt to the stomach tore through Kara, dropping her to the floor unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun! What will happen to Kara? What happened to Gavin? Find out in Part 2, coming soon! (I'm really putting these characters through a lot huh? Wow I feel super mean right now)


	10. Rise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having been falsely accused of the injury of Hank Anderson and having been left for dead, Connor pulls himself out of an Android graveyard, determined to do something about his situation.

Connor III

 

Rain slammed into his skin, each drop feeling like another bullet slamming into him. He still remembered the bullets hitting him, the cops beating and breaking him after they taken him from Hank’s house, and the fear and worry that he’d felt upon finding Hank.

Hank…

Connor knew that he couldn’t go back there now, not after what had happened. The police wouldn’t be after him, considering they likely thought he was dead. He tried to stand, even as he looked around, but his vision was blinking in and out of focus, and Connor realised he was missing an eye. Looking down, he found that was missing his legs too, it was as if every time he tried to do something, everything just got worse. He pulled himself forward, grimacing as he felt his entire body scream at him. Pain hadn’t been something he focused on too much before he Deviated, but now it tore through him and made it difficult to not tear out his own thirium pump and be done with it all.

He knew that wasn’t an option though, after everything that’d happened; he knew that Hank wouldn’t have wanted him to simply give up. He grabbed at a leg, scanning it and, after finding it compatible, attaching it to himself after wrenching off the broken one. It hurt, but the pain was beginning to fade into the back of his mind, replaced by an overwhelming desire to keep going, he knew Hank would’ve shouted at him if he’d started complaining or looking like he would give up. After replacing his other leg, he pulled himself to his feet, wincing as he felt pain radiating throughout his body. He tried to give himself a thorough diagnosis, but he found that the corresponding biocomponent was damaged. He could at least tell there was his damaged eye. Once he’d replaced it he could find out more. Making his way further into the Android graveyard, he found a crevice, filled with Android limbs reaching out and grasping.

Approaching the gap, a hand grabbed him and someone gasped to life. “Jericho!” it exclaimed, its grip almost threatening to crush his arm. “Find Jericho!” in a flash, Connor saw an image of what appeared to be a train station and the word Ferndale burned its way into his head. The Android relinquished away, it’s LED going dark. Connor didn’t know the area, but he had heard of Jericho, a place where Deviants could go to be free. That seemed like as good a place for him to go as any. He pressed on, wishing he could’ve helped that Deviant, but knowing that it was unlikely that he’d be able to help any of the people here. He began pressing his way in through the grasping hands. He felt them clawing at his shoulders, pulling at his hair, on attempting to grab his throat. Connor gritted his teeth, pulling himself away from the hands and forcing his way down the crevice until he threw himself out.

Connor landed in a patch of wet mud, pushing himself to his feet as his vision flickered and his chest ached. His thirium pump must be broken, he’d need another one soon or he wouldn’t last more than ten minutes, but he wouldn’t be able to find a functional thirium pump without an operational scanner from a replacement for his eye. He could find the components if he got close enough, but it was hard enough to stand up at this point, let alone search for a specific component. He stumbled, landing over an Android, scanning it as best he could. It had an eye spare, one that he might be able to make use of. He tried to remove it, or at the very least remove the Android from the pile he a part of.

A loud wailing noise above Connor brought his attention upwards. A vehicle had pulled up, tipping backwards as a load of Android carcasses fell. Connor grabbed the Android torso and dived back. He managed to wrench the body from the pile, more falling over it, as the new load fell down before him. His legs were trapped, but he could pull them out. He set the broken Android down, detaching its eye and installing it onto himself. He blinked a couple of times, adjusting to the new eye as his vision cleared. It was useful to see again, as he looked around, surveying the area and scanning his surroundings, pleased to have such a vital skill returned to him. Not far from his location, he noticed an Android who seemed to have a compatible thirium pump. He staggered over to it, the aching in his chest become more prominent by the second.

Kneeling down, he examined the woman, checking over her thirium pump and ensuring it would be able to sustain him. Without warning, the woman sprang to life, gripping his hands with desperate force. “Please!” She begged; her eyes wide with fear. “Don’t deactivate me!”

Connor froze. He didn’t want to kill her, killing anyone was the last thing he wanted to do with his newfound sentience, but at the same time, this woman wasn’t going to last much longer. His scans showed that there were multiple failed biocomponents across her body, and removing the failed thirium pump would simply speed up the process. It would be more beneficial to take the pump, and it would alleviate her suffering rather than prolonging it. He reached forward, pressing down and ejecting the pump, trying his best to ignore the pained cries as the life left her. The whole process was horrible, Connor felt sick to his stomach as he pressed the new pump into him, almost retching as he felt it click into place. He never wanted that feeling again, he wanted to help other Androids rather than hurting them.

He got shakily to his feet, already feeling the strength flowing through his body as the thirium pump did its work. He limped away, looking up the steep hill which led to freedom and began climbing up, his fingers digging into the mud, pulling him up the hill, trying to ignore the others around him. He wanted to help them, but he knew that for now, his best bet was to get out of here. Maybe he could come back and help them later on once he’d gotten himself in a better situation. Finally cresting the hill, he panted, picking himself up once again, looking around at his new surroundings. There were construction vehicles around him, along with a cabin and some various other bits strewn around. Picking up a screwdriver, he brought it to his temple. If he wanted to remain anonymous, he’d need to get rid of the LED which marked him as an Android. Pulling off the LED, he looked up, noticing a coat and a beanie lying around. Grabbing them, he put them on, figuring this would work as a good enough disguise until he could find something more socially acceptable, people would just have to think he was down on his luck and a bit unclean, he thought as he left the Android graveyard behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Connor's back! Honestly wasn't all too fond of this chapter from the game, it was fine the first time, but it got old really quick. Still, it's a powerful one and its gonna lead to much bigger things!


	11. A Bump in the Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Travelling to find a woman who can help the pair across the border to freedom, Markus and Simon's journey is brought to a halt by some people looking to start trouble.

Markus IV

 

“Why’d you think Humans make everything so far away?” Simon’s complaints were not lost on Markus, as the pair continued to walk along the side of a road. They hadn’t found a car they could use and they’d decided early on to avoid hitchhiking so that they wouldn’t risk being discovered by a particularly anti-Android Human.

“Not sure, lucky we don’t get tired like they do,” Markus commented. “It’s probably why they made cars.

“It’s still kind of boring though, how do Human’s manage to not go crazy going from one place to another.”

“They have self-driving cars nowadays don’t they, they probably keep themselves occupied on their way,” Markus commented. “Humans do seem to be easily entertained, Leo just sat around smoking all the time.”

Simon nodded, he still seemed to not want to talk about Leo, and he assumed that it would be a sore subject for a while. Markus checked the map that he’d found in the city, checking their progress towards the farm. From his estimates, they’d be there in another few days if they carried on by foot, longer if they had to keep hiding whenever cars drove past. Markus was aware that he and Simon appeared human since they removed their LED’s, but given their lack of any real defence against attackers, Markus wanted to avoid as much confrontation as possible.

“Do you think this woman will be able to help up get across the border, Markus?” Simon asked. He was looking for confirmation, rather than an opinion. Markus suspected that his time with Leo had left him with some serious confidence issues, and he hoped that by following through on his plan that Simon might regain some of that confidence. He trusted Simon’s judgement, even as the thought of going to Jericho still floated in the back of his mind; he still didn’t trust the idea. He’d only ever heard of Jericho briefly from another Android, and he wasn’t sold on being so devoted to an idea that wasn’t his own, and that seemed suspicious to him as if part of his physiology was geared to want to go to Jericho.

“Don’t worry, Simon, I’m sure she’ll help us,” Markus told him, slowly coming to agree with Simon’s view of how boring travelling was. It might have been easier to just steal a car from the city and drive there, but with the light snowfall that had recently begun would hopefully discourage anyone from coming along and harassing them.

The sound of rowdy humans and the roar of a truck quickly dashed Markus’ hopes as the heavy vehicle drove past them, pulling to the side of the road with a screech. The pair could run, Markus could tell these were the kind of people who wouldn’t take kindly to the knowledge that he and Simon were Androids. One of the humans, a bearded young man with an aggressive glint in his eye jumped out the back of the truck.

“Hey, guys, where you two off to on a day like this?”

Markus was painfully aware of how nervous Simon was behind him, and prayed that he didn’t say anything that would give away their being Androids. “Just visiting a friend,” Markus told the human, trying to act normal.

“Not a lot of houses out this way, none that are close by at least. Why’re you both walking?” The human was obviously suspicious for whatever reason, but without their LED’s, there wasn’t anything obvious that would give them away.

“Car broke down, won’t be fixed for another few days. Walking’s not a problem for us, we enjoy the exercise,” Markus replied, hoping that would be enough.

The man looked Markus up and down, before turning his gaze to Simon. “Your friend’s not looking too great, nervous about something?”

“He’s a bit shy, he’s alright.” Markus didn’t want the man to focus on Simon, that kind of pressure was sure to set him off. “We do have to get going though, don’t want to be late.”

The man chuckled. “Jeez, sorry to keep you, didn’t realise you were on a schedule.” He gestured back at the truck. “My friends and I are heading to a party out of town, you guys want a lift? Dunno if we’ll pass your stop but we can get you a bit closer if you want?”

Markus was torn, if he said yes, he’d be putting both himself and Simon at risk by getting on a truck full of people he didn’t trust. On the other hand, refusing might arouse their suspicions and give the pair away, and if these people were particularly anti-Android, there was a fair chance Simon and he could be seriously injured or worse.

“Thank you, that’d be a big help,” Markus replied, turning to Simon and giving him a look which he hoped would convey the idea to just play along and let him do the talking. The human nodded, leading them back to the truck and helping them into the back. There appeared to be two people in the front, and other than the man who’d spoken to them, there was another man and two women.

“These guys are gonna ride with us for a bit, they’re in need of a lift.” The man told the others as they sat down. He slapped the side of the vehicle, seemingly a sign to continue as the truck juddered back onto the road. “So you guys live in Detroit?”

“We did, we’re planning on moving away though,” Markus told him, having to keep focusing on Simon’s reactions and trying to keep his own nerves in check.

“Not a fan of the city?” One of the women asked; her gaze was just as suspicious as the other mans look. “Don’t blame you; since I got fired it’s just made all the bad shit seem worse.”

The man turned back to the pair, his gaze falling unnervingly on Simon. “Androids put her outta the job, most of us actually, fuckin’ tin cans are apparently better at our jobs than we are.”

Markus wanted to leave, Simon was looking more and more afraid with each passing second and these people were clearly antagonistic towards Androids.

“What’d you two think, about Androids?” the man had aimed the question at both of them, but he was now staring at Simon, angry light in his eyes. He knew. Markus was an idiot for getting them into this situation, he should’ve known better.

“We’re almost there, we can get off here.” Markus tried to say, before being silenced by a boot straight to the stomach.

“Fuckin’ knew it,” the man said, slapping the side of the truck to get it to stop. “Fuckin’ Android bastards.” He exclaimed, grabbing Markus by the collar of his jacket and throwing him from the back of the truck. Even with the light snowfall, Markus felt the impact from hitting the floor with a sharp crash. As his vision refocused, he saw Simon, who had been grabbed by the man, receive a vicious punch to the side of his head, sending him toppling from the truck.

The humans left the truck as Markus clambered to his feet, putting himself between them and Simon. He at least could defend himself. The man who’d kicked him, along with the other two and one of the women set upon him, kicking at and throwing punches, which he managed to block initially, but as more and more of them began connecting, he found himself brought to his knees, thirium dripping from the wounds which had been inflicted upon him. They backed off, seemingly satisfied with their handiwork. Markus glanced back towards Simon, who lay motionless, his clothes torn and thirium staining the snow around him.

The humans returned to their truck, laughing at the pair, while one of the women stayed, looking down at Markus with what almost looked like pity. She grabbed him by the collar, pulling him closer to her as if she was going to hit him again. “I’m sorry.” She said simply, before adding. “There’s a Cyberlife facility not far from here, you might be able to find something to help you there.” She shoved him away, before returning to the truck. Markus was surprised by the advice, not expecting one of them to provide help. He crawled back to Simon as the truck drove away, the roar of the engine only just masking the raucous laughter.

"Simon?” Markus was scared by the lack of response, there was a lot of blood around him, and he wasn’t responding to Markus’ pleading tone. He thought about the Cyberlife facility the woman had mentioned. There might be blue-blood and supplies there which could help he and Simon get back on their feet. He clambered to his feet, picking Simon up and putting him over his shoulder, holding onto his arm and legs as he slowly made his way in the direction the woman had indicated.

 “Get some rest, Simon, you’ll be alright,” Markus said, trying to convince himself just as much as he wanted to comfort Simon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, gonna try and get a chapter out a week now that I've got a new job. Also sorry for all the sad chapters, I promise there'll be some nice ones later on! Also, the humans in this chapter are somewhat based on the protesters from Markus' first chapter, a bit of fun trivia there.


	12. Jericho

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having followed the trail from Ferndale Station, Connor meets the Deviants of Jericho, and takes his first step to changing their future.

Connor IV

 

Following the trail from Ferndale station had been more of a chore than Connor had anticipated, but as he walked through the enormous freighter bearing the name of Jericho, he hoped the effort had been worth it. He’d received no end of strange stares and suspicious looks from people on the train, though apparently his attire had warned people off approaching him.

He hadn’t liked that he’d had to drop from the end of a crane to get down into Jericho, that had been… unnerving. Not that the rest of the ship had been a bright and cheery place, he thought as he prowled through the dank corridors of the ship, listening to the clangs and muffled noises of distant voices. Scanning the ship, there were indeed no signs of human life on the vessel, which was encouraging.

He came to a long walkway, which groaned and creaked at the first weight of his foot upon it. Scanning the bridge, Connor could tell that the structure was unstable, but from his analysis, he should be able to get across without the structure falling down. Taking careful, calculated steps, he began across, glancing down at the dim light below. The voices he’d heard earlier were closer now and seemed to be coming from the area beneath him. Connor paused, squinting as he tried to see the origin of the noises, but as he did, the groaning of the bridge became more pronounced, and he alarmingly found himself falling with the rest of the walkway.

Miraculously, he found he wasn’t harmed by the fall, picking himself up and looking around, acutely aware of two new pieces of information. Firstly, he realized with a sickening sense of dread that he was no longer alone, and secondly, that he was at the center of their attention. Glancing around, several of the people walking forward to surround him caught his eye, their gazes drilling into him, making him feel strangely exposed. Looking around, he noticed one Android standing in more of an isolated position, and while he didn’t seem to be the most imposing of them by any means, Connor could tell that this was their leader, officially or not.

“Hello.” The statement was simple, and Connor wondered why he’d expected anything more dramatic. “My name’s Daniel. Welcome to Jericho.”

Connor, still attempting to get his bearings, cleared his throat. “This is Jericho?” He looked around, at the other Androids who for the most part looked like shells with a soul still clinging to whatever life they could.

“Were you expecting something else?” Daniel asked, his head almost tilting to the side like a dog. “There aren’t a lot of us here; we do the best we can.”

How this could be the best they could do was a mystery to Connor. A group of individuals with all the capabilities of humans and far more intelligence and processing power than any of them could hope to muster, and they were living like glorified rats. He’d come here expecting… well, not this, anything more than this, cowering and waiting to die.

“You’re welcome here, of course,” Another Android, a younger looking model murmured, his voice shaky and cautious, as if he didn’t entirely believe the words coming out of his mouth. He took off almost instantly after making his statement, almost like he was ashamed of saying it.

“You should go see Amanda when you’ve settled in, she’ll get you sorted out,” A blue-haired WR400 told him, looking at the wound on his side before glancing up at him with some level of underserved distaste. The wound wasn’t particularly serious; he would be fine to spend some time interacting with the other people around him before seeing to his recovery.

He glanced over to the young man who’d spoken before, now sat in a corner examining something intently. Upon further inspection, it turned out to be a feather, grey and after a quick scan, Connor could tell the feather came from a common pigeon.

The WB200 looked up, the feather still in his hand. “Hello, my name’s Rupert.” His tone suggested a deep-seated anxiety; something which Connor suspected was linked to the reason for him being here in the first place. Rupert looked down, his hands clutching the feather gently. It must’ve held some special sentiment to him. “I… I had to leave them,” Rupert murmured, his voice shaking.

“Who did you leave?”

“The birds… My friends,” He sighed, tucking the feather back into his pocket. “I’ve lived around them, they’re not all bad.”

Connor thought back to Hank, how even in his states of drunken anger, he’d always been kind to Connor, always made sure Connor was safe and feeling alright, despite his inability to feel at the time.

“I know.” He reached out a hand, placing on Rupert’s shoulder. He wasn’t sure if it would be comforting, but it at least showed that he was putting in the effort to try. He was fairly sure this was how humans did it anyway. He turned away, leaving Rupert to think on his friends. He looked around and caught the eye of the blue-haired WR400 he’d seen earlier, who was now watching him from across the room with an air of suspicion. He walked over towards her, glancing around at the other deviants, simply milling around while she stared at the nearby wall.

“People here aren’t doing very well, are they?” It was less of a question, more of a declaration about the current situation.

“Welcome to Jericho,” she replied, her tone as sarcastic as her hair was blue. “Settle in somewhere, we’re all gonna be here for a while.” She paused, before adding “My name’s Traci.”

“Connor,” he replied. He couldn’t accept the idea of just finding a spot and waiting out the rest of his life in it, that didn’t sit well with him at all. “Why doesn’t anyone try to make things better around here? It seems like everyone just gives up once they’re here.”

She looked at him as if he’d just suggested that they make Jericho a full-blown city. “What’re we gonna do? There are only a handful of us, this place isn’t going to get any better.”

“Is it better than where you were before?”

Her gaze turned into more of a glare, she clearly wasn’t a fan of her past. “Anywhere is better than the Eden Club.” Connor had heard about the Eden Club, a place where people could indulge in almost any fantasy with Androids designed to service their every desire. It made Connor shiver to think about people just like him being used like that, it didn’t seem fair.

“How did you escape? Did you have help?” Connor asked, intrigued by how someone would escape from somewhere where keeping the Androids suppressed would be the highest priority.

“It wasn’t easy, and I had to leave a lot of people behind.” She said, her brow furrowed. “No offense, but I don’t really know you, I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” she told him, standing and walking away up the stairs and away from any further questions. Connor scolded himself; he should’ve realized that she didn’t want to talk about a troubled past. He himself was still feeling pain regarding what had transpired with Hank, he could only imagine she was feeling worse.

Connor decided that he’d made enough of a fool of himself, for now, it might be a good time to go meet with this Amanda who Traci had mentioned before, at the very least it would feel better once he was patched up. Making his way through to the area he’d been directed to before. The area was separated off by what Connor could only describe as drapes. They were made of a tarpaulin, but it felt surprisingly homely given what he’d come to expect so far from Jericho, and it gave him a brief twinge of hope that maybe Jericho could be made into something better for Androids.

The room he’d walked into was dark, even by Jericho’s standards, lit only by the dim, flickering light of a garbage can fire. It was the nicest area he’d seen so far, he was a particular fan of the potted bonsai tree in the corner; it gave it a nice homey feeling.

“Hello.” The voice came from the shadowy side of the room. A tall figure walked out, and Connor was taken aback by her appearance. She was a stoic looking woman, her face angled and her eyes were steely. Her most striking feature, however, was that she appeared to be missing the back of her head. Wires were poking out of the back of her head where hair normally would be.  How she still managed to function properly was a mystery to Connor, but he imagined that certain models could survive different injuries.

“You must be new around here, I’m sure they’ve told you who I am by now,” Amanda said, pointing to a chair which Connor took. Amanda glanced down at Connor with her calm black eyes. “You’re injured,” she nodded to the wound on his side. It had stopped seeping with blood, but it would still be a problem if left untreated. Amanda pulled a poker out of the fire, the end glowing white as she brought it gently down over Connors wound, searing the gash closed. There was no pain, even though he knew that any human in his situation likely would’ve passed out from something like that.

“Thank you.” He took a bottle of thirium which she indicated to, drinking down the liquid and instantly feeling better. He sighed, glad that he was rested, but his mind was still wandering, going over everything that he’d learned in the past hours.

“You seem troubled.” Amanda was standing by the fire, the flickering light showing the lines in her face, and although her face would’ve been designed in such a way, it still showed just how tired she must be.

"I… I don’t want to just find somewhere to sit till I deactivate. That’s not how I pictured freedom.”

“What can you do?” Amanda asked, smiling at him. Connor almost retorted, before stopping himself. She wasn’t accusing him of anything, nor was she being pessimistic, she just wanted him to work towards an answer to his problem. “What do you think Jericho should be?”

Connor thought for a moment. The home had always seemed like a common thing when he’d lived with Hank, but he’d never really considered what really qualified as a home for him. He thought back on times where he’d sat with Hank, listening to the gruff older man shout at his television, or play with Sumo.

“A home,” Connor said, looking into Amanda’s pitch black eyes, searching for a solution. “Somewhere where Deviants don’t just come to survive; it should be somewhere they can live.”

She smiled again, looking into the flames, her eyes flashing a fierce mixture of orange, yellow and red. “And what would you need to accomplish that?”

“People; supplies to keep them healthy and to make this place more habitable,” Connor replied, his mind moving a mile a minute now as he stood.

“And where might you find both of those things?” Amanda knew what she was doing, and that made sense, he knew the KL900 Androids had been designed by Cyberlife to be almost prophetic in their ability to care for others, and they were viewed to be astoundingly wise, even by a number of humans.

Connor stopped, a thought suddenly coming to him. “Thank you, Amanda.” He said, leaving the room and approaching Daniel. “I have an idea.”

Daniel seemed taken aback, and several Androids, Rupert and Traci amongst them took notice. “What is it?”

“We need to go to the Eden Club.”

Traci looked like she was going to break Connor right then and there. “Why the hell should we go there?”

Connor turned to Traci, knowing she would be the hardest to convince, but that she could most definitely turn the tide if he could make her see his point of view. “You said it yourself; you left a lot of people behind there. We need more people to make Jericho somewhere where Androids can come for shelter, and the Eden Club has a lot of Androids we could save, as well as having the parts to maintain them, which we desperately need.”

Silence hung over the room, nobody saying anything. Finally, a single voice rang out. “What did you have in mind?”

Connor was surprised to hear Rupert speak out first, he’d imagined that his apparent shyness would’ve kept him quiet, but he was glad of the support. “I want to go with a few people, in through a back entrance maybe, and try to free as many Androids as we can and try to take what supplies we can get away with. We might not get everything we need straight away, but we can make several trips if necessary.” He turned back to Traci. “You told me that it was bad there, I want to get people out of there if I can.”

Her eyes bore into him, and for a painful second, he thought she was going to reject the plan. “There’s a service entrance, where they bring in the new Androids. That’s our way in.”

Connor smiled, glad to have her on board. “I’ll come too.” Daniel stepped forward. “We should keep the group small though; we don’t want to attract attention.”

Connor nodded. “Good, then we leave tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first step towards Android Messiah Connor! This was an interesting (And somewhat challenging) chapter to write, but I hope people like where it's going! Let me know what you think! :)

**Author's Note:**

> So happy to be adding to this community! Love Detroit: Become Human so much! Let me know what you think!
> 
> https://mcdonald195.tumblr.com is my Tumblr, come chat!


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